Miscellaneous Questions

[bb]

Some questions that no doubt will come up among students but that as yet I have not seen an answer to through any of the channels available to me, internal orexternal:

– Will the final exam schedule be the same?
– What if I am in a different time zone and can never, practically, attend class?
– What if I have poor or nonexistent internet access for the foreseeable future?
– What if my ITS laptop breaks, and I am off campus, away from ITS services?
– What if I get sick for an extended period of time?

[Paul Wolff]

bb –

I won’t be able to answer all your questions, since some of these haven’t been decided yet. That said, I’ll do my best and I’m sure more information will be available soon:

– Will the final exam schedule be the same?
I think we can anticipate more information coming out soon and I don’t think this has been decided officially. For now, plan as if it will be the same schedule until we hear otherwise.

– What if I am in a different time zone and can never, practically, attend class?
Wherever possible, we’re encouraging instructors to be flexible with students and offer asynchronous alternatives (recording synchronous sessions or pre-recording a lecture and posting it, posting lecture notes in addition to video if possible, etc.

– What if I have poor or nonexistent internet access for the foreseeable future?
Again, where we can be flexible and offer alternatives to accommodate limited internet connectivity (allowing alternate assignments, asynchronous discussion forums, etc. instead of a synchronous class) it will help these students tremendously. There are also other groups on campus considering these situations, particularly the nonexistent internet situation.

– What if my ITS laptop breaks, and I am off campus, away from ITS services?
I don’t have an answer here but I know ITS is aware of this concern and will likely have messaging to address this.

– What if I get sick for an extended period of time?
This is going to happen to some of our students and faculty. One of my colleagues put it best when she said they are approaching this from the standpoint of flexibility, understanding, and kindness. We will also have students who are caring for children home from school and for parents/loved ones who get sick. Our priorities will obviously shift under these circumstances. I’m sure there will be information/recommendations coming from the university around this issue.

[bb]

Paul,

I appreciate your responses. In whatever way you can, please encourage the deciders to decide these things. ‘Flexibility’ sounds nice but has many hidden consequences, such as unfair application of even basic attendance policies across courses. This is especially important for students who were told yesterday they could not, in general, come back to campus.

Lack of clarity from relatively vague administrative guidance makes their decisions all the more difficult and their lives all the more stressful. Lack of clarity also makes the teacher’s job much more painful: Which situations warrant special treatment, which do not? etc. Even the response you gave to, e.g., the time zone question is not on the student and parent FAQ website! https://www.unc.edu/coronavirus/students-and-parents-faqs/#chapter-25

Everyone wants to do right by the students. Vague guidance from administrators makes that much, much more difficult for everyone. Class starts on Monday, and students and faculty are making decisions right now. Now is the time to decide on these important questions.

Take care,
Brendan

[Mark Mccombs]

hello,

I’ve been able to join meetings on zoom, but my MacBook Pro camera doesn’t display video even when I’ve selected the “start video” option.

my Mac is running macOS Sierra 10.12.6.

I am loath to upgrade to macOS Catalina, as it is not compatible with MathType and Geometer’s Sketchpad, two apps that are essential for my lesson plan files and presentations.

help?
thanks.
-mark mccombs

[Paul Wolff]

Mark – I’d recommend contacting help.unc.edu and either calling in or submitting a ticket. They can take over your screen and try to adjust your settings/do some troubleshooting for you!

[Gerald Cecil]

I have a large Wacom tablet attached to Windows laptop used with pressure sensitive stylus. Can anyone recommend a good whiteboard app to simulate board writing? Most of my content is PowerPoint but I like to break out to board occasionally. Adobe illustrator is too cumbersome. Thanks

[Paul Wolff]

Gerald – have you tried the whiteboard built into Zoom? It’s a setting you can toggle when you create a meeting!

[Frank Church]

I have not seen a memo, but what is listed previously is that FRI, April 24, 2020 is the last day of spring classes. Is that still the plan? Thanks, especially, if I have missed this information somewhere. Frank Church, PhD, Professor

[drdoug]

Frank, please see https://college.unc.edu/2020/03/message-from-dean-terry-rhodes/

[Paul Wolff]

Frank, I know this means you’ll need to think about how to condense the past week and integrate it into the rest of your course. We’ve got a lot of experience doing this between Fall/Spring courses and Summer versions. Please reach out if you need any help!

[Kimberly Manturuk]

Does UNC have video editing software available that I can use to create videos for my class? I know I can record with Zoom, but I’d like to edit together different segments.

[Rob Lucas]

Kimberly,

UNC has licenses for Adobe Premiere Pro within the Adobe Creative Cloud suite, but unless you have experience with video editing, it may be more complex than you’d want right now. And you have to submit a request, so it might not be available today: https://software.sites.unc.edu/software/

If you just need something simple, it’s probably better to use iMovie on Mac or perhaps the online video editor within YouTube Studio. You’ll probably end up posting your video on YouTube anyway (marked as unlisted), and then embedding/linking to the video from Sakai. So, using YouTube to edit would keep your workflow simple.

-Rob

[Matt Osment]

You may want to try Adobe Rush. You have access through the adobe creative cloud: https://software.sites.unc.edu/software/adobe-creative-cloud/ , and it is a lot easier to use than Premiere. Feel free to schedule a 1-1 consult, and we can help you get started! https://keepteaching.unc.edu/training/

[Sarah Stroud]

UNC’s Zoom page says up to 300 people can participate in a “standard Zoom meeting,” but I’m hearing repeated rumors that in fact the limit for *synchronous* meetings is 100 (this is also what is described as the limit for the “Pro” Zoom license, which is what we were told UNC has). Can this be clarified? Thanks.

[Suzanne Cadwell]

Sometime this past year, Zoom upgraded UNC’s default limit for meeting participants from 100 to 300. If you hear of any colleagues encountering a 100-participant cap, this indicates that they are not logging in with their Onyen account via unc.zoom.us or via the SSO option in the desktop software and are instead logging in via zoom.us.

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